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Money doesn’t grow on trees, but it sure takes a lot to put them in the ground.

A city hall committee voted Tuesday to spend $37.7 million to boost the Forest City’s namesake “tree canopy” — which has suffered in recent years — to 34% over the next 20 years.

If it survives budget scrutiny in the new year, the city’s urban forestry department would get a nearly 50% budget hike — a $1.8-million increase on the $4.3 million it now receives.

“This is fantastic news. It shows they are listening to the people. Residents strongly said we need more trees. We need tree cover. We need to protect trees,” said Ivan Listar, the city’s forestry manager.

“This goes a long way to achieving those goals.”

The city’s tree coverage is about 23% — well below some other southern Ontario cities. The tree canopy measures the ratio of the city shaded by trees.

The proposed spending hike would add a half-percentage point increase to the city’s budget, every year for 20 years, said Coun Paul Hubert, who moved and supported the motion.

“If we aim for nothing, we will hit it every time. These are good targets but I think we can do even better,” Hubert said.

“I want to see more trees in the ground.”

Much of the money is to plant and maintain trees on city land, but there’s also money to buy land and hire more staff over the long term.

The plan also offers funding to support community groups and tree-planting programs.

Coun. Dale Henderson pushed to defer the motion back to staff for more details, suggesting developers should bear more of the cost of planting as they remove trees for building. He also asked if the city can offer residents incentives to plant trees, easing the burden on taxpayers.

“We have talked three times about a policy where if we give permission to cut down a tree, two or three are planted. What has happened to that?” Henderson asked.

Staff say the city does have a policy of getting builders to replace trees and also offers support to community groups for tree planting, but more needs to be done.

Coun. Bud Polhill, committee chairperson, asked whether more community groups and volunteers can be tapped to help with planting. He said he’s concerned about needing to buy more land.

“Let’s just plant trees. There are lots of volunteers that will plant trees, such as church groups and Boy Scouts. Let’s get people involved,” he said.

It didn’t surprise Listar politicians voted to support the tree budget.

“Trees provide a lot of social benefits,” he said, listing contributions such as reducing stress and the harm from severe storms and climate change.